DeKALB — The last time the Huskies took the football field, they were thoroughly embarrassed by one of their most hated rivals.
Almost nothing went right for NIU on that windy Wednesday night against Toledo in the Glass Bowl. The offense was stagnant, the defense was gutted and special teams was lackluster from the get-go. It was one of those performances you’d like to forget.
But unlike most things putrid, NIU couldn’t just flush it away. But they couldn’t let it fester, either.
“We’ve got to look forward. We can’t look back in the past,” offensive guard Abiathar Curry said. “It’s a big game for us coming up here. Obviously, closing out the season with a bowl game, chances are slim. So, we’re really just finding a way to keep everybody on track.”
This Wednesday, the Huskies (2-7, 1-4 MAC) will make their longest road trip of the season — about 830 miles — and their first-ever to Amherst, Massachusetts, where they’ll try to avoid the epitome of embarrassment: a loss to the last winless team left in the Football Bowl Subdivision, the UMass Minutemen (0-9, 0-5 MAC).
NIU hasn’t lost any of its past three meetings with UMass and enters this year’s matchup as an 11-point favorite. Though it meets the criteria for a trap game, head coach Thomas Hammock disagrees.
“It’s hard to have a trap game when you’re trying to win a game,” Hammock said. “A team — no matter what their record is — they’re going to fight like hell to try to win a game, and so we need to be ready to respond and play the way that we need to play to execute for four quarters.”
Tuning out the noise
At this point in a season where the expectation of competing for one last Mid-American Conference title has long faded, NIU’s focus has turned to salvaging what’s left — winning out and hoping for a miracle bowl berth at 5-7.
All the while, there’s been plenty of outside noise around the program, including calls for Hammock’s and athletic director Sean Frazier’s jobs on social media. Now more than ever, tuning out that noise has become part of the team’s preparation.
Hammock said he’s learned to ignore it and remain focused on what he and his team can control.
“My expectations of myself is higher than anybody’s expectations of me. My standards of myself is higher than anybody can have standards of me,” Hammock said. “And as a former player — a guy that’s been in this building and done it ‘The Hard Way’ himself — that’s going to be higher than anybody’s noise. I’m pissed more than anybody else.”
“So, what do we have to do? We have to fix it.”
Making repairs
After reviewing the tape from the Toledo game, Hammock concluded that “our standard needs to remain the standard” — doing what it takes to win, no matter what, and competing at a high level. The seventh-year head coach said he spent the early part of the season reflecting on the Huskies’ offseason losses, admitting he approached things the wrong way.
“We’re not going to worry about the transfer portal, NIL or things that we don’t have. What we are going to worry about are the things we do have,” Hammock said. “We have unbelievable people in the building that need to be trained and developed, and I have complete confidence that we’re going to move forward and get better.”
Of course, with the season nearly over and not much left at stake for the Huskies, togetherness becomes even more crucial. Curry said part of the focus has become keeping the players united for the final three games of the regular season.
“We’ve just got to find a way to keep everybody on track and not really lose focus,” Curry said. “Because usually, when there’s nothing at stake, things start going south. Everybody kind of starts separating a little bit, so we’re just keeping everybody in one pack.”
